Lovely--there's an ostensible "Data Protection Act" to prevent unwarranted intrusion into personal data and the spectre of a creeping police state....and so the government simply "exempts" favored parties from needing to comply with the Act. Certainly convenient if you're the government.

They state the source of this as being details accidentally released in documents providing background to the London/terror plan. So the Home Office officials and politicians involved are stupid as well as dishonest.

Patrol cars are already equipped with ANPR kit, which constantly scans vehicles within view for offences like insurance violations. And - yes, you guessed it - this equipment was originally installed for anti-terrorist operations before its scope was widened to encompass conventional crime.

It only makes sense. What possible use can the terror squads make of this network? None whatever, is my guess (*). But the regular cops - they could use this for all kinds of things - watching for stolen cars, confiscating the vehicles of deadbeats who duck out of child support payments, catching people driving on suspended licenses, etc.

As I see it, the only possible usefulness of extending accesss to this network to the terror squads is as the thin end of a wedge for getting access for regular police force (and perhaps eventually other government departments). They're not being given access so they can bust terrorists, they're being given access because they're the easiest people to give access to right now - the next step en route to getting the "right" people access.

* That is assuming the terror squads are actually targetting terrorists, not trade unionists and political adversaries, whom it would be very nice to be able to track and surveil without accountability.

No doubt these types of services will be allied to the Police monitoring of the London Congestion Charge cameras, in much the same way as the Police can easily access your centralised car-insurance records from their patrol cars. With over 8000 miles of Trafficmaster cameras alone prevalent throughout the UK, this will be a function-creep of much more significant dimension.

At the rate that the congestion charge is going up it'll only be rich people and terrorists who drive into central London anyway! Have the US government starting paying it yet or are they still refusing on the grounds that it's a tax?

Fortunately for those of us who live in the more civilised parts of the UK the current "War on Terror" madness seems to be restricted to major airports and to London.

One of the things these systems have already done is drive up the rate of number plate cloning. The "evil doer" simply finds a car of the same make, model and colour as their own and makes up a duplicate plate. The car now appears "innocent" and any offences that /do/ get associated with it land on the doorstep of the true owner of the plate.

I suffered from this years before cameras when my motorcycle plate was stolen and put on a bank getaway vehicle. The next thing I had the police call by looking for the money. At least in that case the plate was physically removed not just copied making it slightly easier to escape their suspicions.

This is great!
Now, I can rob the Bank of England, drive off in my getaway car, stop in a back alley in the city, change my number plates, and because the coppers will be relying on their cameras to catch me, I'll be home free. ... Of course, I'll still pay my Congestion Charge.
;)

This is why you have the second amendment, people. If human history teaches us nothing else it is that you'll be forced to fight for your liberty at some point. The only question is where you choose to draw the line.

As much as I dislike the surveillance society currently being built in Britain, I have to point out that the "Tony Martin" linked by "Pi at July 18, 2007 06:43 PM" belongs to Veritas, a right-wing looney bin of a party with a penchant for racism.

This doesn't mean that this legislation currently being introduced by "civil" people currently in power couldn't be used for nefarious ends... but I'm sure people like Tony Martin would be the first to actually use it for political violence. The existence of such people should be reason enough never to give any government powers like these.